Opinion: Misinformation muddles Saskatoon election for council, mayor

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I’ve seen a few civic elections in my career. I don’t recall as much misinformation as there seems to be in this election. I am left wondering: Why so much misinformation?

Surely the Saskatoon mayoral candidates know that the mayor’s office doesn’t come with executive powers. The mayor cannot sign an ‘executive order’ to unilaterally shift city policy or cancel a program without the support of the majority of council. The mayor has one vote, like every other member of council.

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It’s called a ‘weak mayor’ system. It’s very democratic. The mayor has power only through influence and their charismatic ability to persuade or convince other members of council to vote in a particular way. Some are better at this than others.

So, what is the misinformation that is out there? It’s not that the misinformation is completely false; it’s only twisted or omits key information to leave an impression on the reader that if someone is elected your life will become hell. It’s not true and it’s not factual.

Here are some of the latest falsehoods.

First, fourplexes. Information is being circulated which suggests that fourplexes can be built on every lot. This isn’t true. It’s true Ottawa offered grant money through the Housing Accelerator Fund to cities that loosened up their zoning bylaws to allow more housing.

But Saskatoon’s city administration added development standards to restrict where fourplexes could be built. Development standards such as minimum lot frontage and minimum site area will prevent fourplexes ‘on every lot.’

As an aside, I am not aware of any for-profit builder who is even interested in building a fourplex. The economics simply aren’t there in this high-cost environment.

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Second, it’s being asserted that six-storey apartments can be built anywhere near transit growth corridors. Six-storey apartments cannot be built anywhere within the rapid transit corridor growth areas.

Again, the city administration added development standards which state that apartments up to six storeys can only be built on collector or arterial roadways (i.e. busy roads), and they too must adhere to minimum site standards.

Third, a few candidates have now come up with the ridiculous idea that Confederation Mall is going to be turned into a transit terminal. I am holding in my hands the council-adopted February 2016 technical report from the city’s growth plan.

It recommends supporting the transition of the aging and struggling Confederation Mall area as a mixed-use transit-oriented development with an additional 3,280 to 5,580 new dwellings and up to 120,400 square metres of additional commercial space. A good idea.

Fourth, no councillor can cast a deciding vote. Councillors vote as a group with all their hands put in the air at once. Only the mayor has the authority to cast the deciding vote in cases where the number of votes on council is tied. This is just about the only power a mayor really has.

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Unfortunately, given the times we are living through, rather than doing the hard work of politicking and talking to people about the pros and cons of public policy, too many politicians choose to prey on the gullibility of voters.

So, as a result, we receive misleading information through mail drops, social media posts and unsubstantiated assertions blurted out at mayoral forums. Oddly, after checking all the candidates’ websites, none of this misinformation appears on their websites.

So, it seems as though some prefer to use more temporary but direct means to spread misinformation.

Alan Wallace is the planning director for Wallace Insights and former director of planning and development for the City of Saskatoon.

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